Student Responses (This is where you will post your book summary)
Kaitlin Farrell
Citation: Tocci, S. (2001). Experiments with Solids, Liquids, and Gases. Toronto, ON:
Children’s Press. Reading Level: 2-5 Suggested Literacy Strategy: Synthesizing; There are many scientific ideas presented in this book and students would need to learn how to synthesize the information in order to perform the experiments and interpret the results accurately. Description: This book discusses the characteristics of solids, liquids, and gases by comparing and contrasting them. The book is separated into three main sections (“What is a Solid?”, “What is a Liquid?”, and “What is a Gas?”) and each section ends with an experiment for the reader to try. The experiments are simple and can be done at home, yet clearly enforce and prove the scientific concepts covered in the book. Another positive quality is that children can really relate to the pictures and examples that are used to describe the three states of matter. The text structure is typical of nonfiction books and includes things like a table of contents, chapters, glossary, index, and other websites to explore.
Jeanna Calia Book:The Icky Bug Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta Citation: Pallotta, J. (1993). The Icky Bug Alphabet Book. Waltertown, MA: Charlesbridge. Description: This science book is an alphabet book which explains 26 different kinds of bugs and insects. For each letter, the book states the bug, what it does, its features, and a fun fact. The illustrations in the book are very vibrant and bold. The images of the bugs are also very large. This would also be a great book to learn about the alphabet. Reading Level: DRA: 38 Guided Reading: P Grade Level Equivalent: 4.9 Suggested Literacy Strategy: Students can be introduced to the topic of theme and how the underlying message of the book is to teach about the different kinds of bugs and what they are categorized as. This book integrates both science and the alphabet when you read. Students can be assigned a letter of the alphabet and not only think of the bug which is illustrated in the book under that letter, but compile other bugs/insects which begin with the letter they are assigned.
Randee Myers Book: I See a Kookaburra!: Discovering Animal Habitats Around the Worldby Steve Jenkins & Robin Page Citation: Jenkins, S., & Page, R. (2005). I See a Kookaburra!: Discovering Animal Habitats Around the World. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company. Reading Level: DRA: 18-20; Guided Reading: J Description: “Scorching deserts and steamy rain forests, muddy ponds and salty oceans—animals are found almost every place on earth.” In this science picture book, students are able to catch a glimpse into animal habitats from the tide pools located on the southern coast of England to the rain forest in the Amazon River basin of South America. With many colorful and exciting pictures displaying information, students can learn a lot about different animals from all around the world. Suggested Literacy Strategy: The most useful reading strategy for this type of text would be finding the main idea. The main idea refers to the most important idea found in expository text. This strategy will help students decide what the author’s main purpose is for writing the book. While reading an expository text, such as a science picture book, students will learn to constantly make predictions as to what the author thinks is most important in the text.
Jen Levine
Book: The Magic School Bus: In the Time of the Dinosaurs by Joanna Cole Citation: Cole, Joanna. (1994). The Magic School Bus: In the Time of the Dinosaurs. New York, NY: Scholastic, INC. Description:The Magic School Bus: In the Time of the Dinosaursis about Ms. Frizzle and her class traveling back to the dinosaur age for a dinosaur dig in their magic school bus. The students learn about fossils, dinosaur bones/bodies, and about the types of plants that were around during this time. Reading Level: Guided Reading: P; DRA: 34-38; Ages 4-8 Suggested Literacy Strategy: After reading The Magic School Bus: In the Time of the Dinosaurs, students can use the summarizing comprehension strategy. The book contains a lot of facts about dinosaurs, so students can summarize all the facts that they have learned in each part of this book.
Michelle Bonnetti
Book:The Magic School Bus: In the Arctic Citation: Cole, Joanna. (1998). The Magic School Bus: In the Arctic. New York, NY: Scholastic. Description: This book is about Ms. Frizzle's class trying to figure out where the heat goes when it's cold. Ms. Frizzle decides to take them to the arctic to figure it out, but on the way they drove the bus into freezing cold water. The bus would no longer drive, and they had to figure out how to warm the bus up and get back home. On the way they run into a polar bear and shrink to use his fur as warmh. They also discover blubbler and learn how it keeps walrus' warm. Reading Level: P Suggested Literacy Strategy: I would use the main idea strategy for this book. The main idea is how to stay warm, but children might not pick up on that immediately. Students who read this book may thing the Arctic is the main idea. The book has a lot of good information about staying warm so students could locate the main idea of staying warm and then discuss ways Ms. Frizzles' class stayed warm.
Kayleigh Shaw Book: The Tiny Seed Citation: Carle, Eric. (1987). The Tiny Seed. Natick, MA: Picture Book Studio. Reading Level: DRA- 28; Guided Reading- L; Grade Level- 3.2 Description: Eric Carle presents accurate information about seeds, how they travel/spread, and the development of seeds into plants. He also includes great illustrations to go along with the text that will help students understand what he is teaching them. This story of the tiny seed goes through the possibilities of wind and animals carrying seeds to various places and what happens regarding seeds growing into plants in each season. Suggested Literacy Strategy: Main Idea would be a great strategy for this book. While it is an informational text, it is presented in the form of a narrative, which will help students better understand and use the strategy. Students will gain the most of out this book if they understand what the most important thing(s) Carle wants them to gain from their reading.
Liz Kalajian Book:Stars! Stars! Stars! Citation: Barner, B. (2002). Stars! Stars! Stars! San Francisco: Chronicle Books. Description: Using simple rhyming text and colorful illustrations, this book introduces aspects of the universe and the planets to its readers. At the end of the book, there are several definitions in basic terms to define several characteristics of the planets as well as components of the universe. Reading Level: DRA: 18-20, Guided Reading: J, Grade Level: 1-3 Suggested Literacy Strategy: Even though it is presented in a fun and creative way, this science picture book conveys several facts about stars, astronomy, and the planets. As a result, an effective literacy strategy for the readers to use would be summarizing so that they can pick out and identify the key points that they should retain and highlight from reading this book.
Casey Caruso Book: The Magic School Bus: Inside a Hurricaneby Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen APA Citation: Cole, J., & Degen, B. (1997). The Magic School Bus: Inside a Hurricane. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc. Reading Level: DRA= 18-20, Guided Reading= P Suggested Literacy Strategies: This book would be a good book to teach summarizing. After reading the book, the children can summarize all the new facts they learned about hurricanes! Description: The Magic School Bus is a series of science children books that kids love! In this particular book, Ms. Frizzle and her class get lifted out of their classroom into the sky in a hot air balloon. While in the sky, Ms. Frizzle and her class get stuck in the middle of a hurricane. While inside the hurricane, Ms. Frizzle teaches her class all about them. When the hurricane is over, the class returns to their classroom as if nothing ever happened.
Lauren Masco Book:What Makes Day and Night Citation: Branley, F.M. (1961). What makes day and night. New York, NY: Thomas Y. Crowell. Reading Level: DRA: 30-34 Guiding Reading: N Grade Level: 3.5 Description: This book explains why day and night occur. It discusses how the earth is round constantly moving, and because of that the sun hits it in different places at different times of the day. It utilizes diagrams and an experiment to teach students why the sun hits different parts of the earth at different times of the day. Suggested Literacy Strategy: This book would be appropriate for using the summarizing strategy. It presents a lot of information about why night and day occur, and it would be good practice for the students to pick out the most important facts.
Alli Clare Title:The Science Book of Machines by Neil Ardley Citation: Ardley, N. (1992). The Science Book of Machines. San Diego, California: Gulliver Books Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers. Description: This science book is also a procedural text that introduces simple machines and how they are found all over and then gives twelve machines that students can make using step-by-step instructions and pictures. Reading Level:
Grade: 4.6
DRA: 40
Guided Reading: Q Suggested Literacy Strategy: Looks Backs as Fit-It Strategies. Seeing that this is also a procedural text, students will need to know how to look back in the directions and find the solutions to the mistakes they have made when trying to construct their machines.
Gianna Seidler Book Title: A Seed is Sleepy Citation: Aston, D.H. (2007). A Seed is Sleepy. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. Reading Level: DRA: 38; Guiding Reading: P; Grade: 4.9 Description: Using accurate illustrations and descriptions, this picture book contains many interesting facts about the seeds of both familiar and unusual plants. It also contains a simple description of how various types of seeds begin their lives. Also, short poetic phrases in large print are accompanied by paragraphs in smaller print, which tackle science concepts and expand on the phrases. Therefore, the book can be used with both younger and older students, dependent upon what you focus on: the short phrases or longer paragraphs. Finally, the watercolor illustrations contain both pictures and charts, which depict such concepts as a seed's growth into a plant. Such visuals allow readers to form images in there minds in order to better understand these various scientific concepts. Suggested Literacy Strategy: Because this expository text contains a variety of concepts and facts, determining the main idea would be an effective literacy strategy to accompany its reading. Having students identify clues and make predictions about what the author may think is most important will allow them to eventually identify the most important idea about the characteristics of seeds and plants, thereby making their reading worthwhile.
Tom Medvecky Title: Tornado! Citation: Nicholson, Cynthia Pratt. 2003. Tornado! Kids Can Press. Reading Level: 4-6 Description: This book is a great combination of text and pictures. The text varies from longer paragraphs to shorter blurbs containing facts and statistics. The pictures add to the text by enhancing it and showing what the author is describing. They visually enhance so that students can create images to the text. It is an easy read for students in grades 4-6 and a great resource if they are doing a project on natural disasters as it provides photos, facts, statistics, evidence and good general information about tornadoes. Suggested Reading Strategy: The best reading strategy to do for a informational text such as this one is main ideas and sub main ideas. Although the main idea is important for comprehension throughout, the sub main ideas are more imporant. As the book gives more information, it is important for students to understand the main ideas on each page and within each section. Otherwise, they will explain the tiny details and facts rather than the most important ones.
Erin Jackson Book: Time to Sleep by Denise Fleming Citation: Fleming, D. (1997). Time to Sleep. New York, NY: Holt. Reading Level: DRA: 13-14, Guided Reading: H, Grade Level: 2.2 Description: Bear says that winter is coming and it is time to sleep but first he has to tell Snail, who then tells Skunk, who tells Turtle, who tells Woodchuck, who finally tells Ladybug. Each animal notices a sign that winter is coming and they each have a different way of hibernating. In the end, Labybug goes to tell Bear who is already sleeping and the two animals hibernate near each other. This picture book teaches children about winter and hibernation and is also a good bedtime story for young children. Suggested Literacy Strategy: A good comprehension strategy to teach with this book would be main idea. Students can read this book and use the clues to decide what the main ideas are and what the author’s message is. Predicting would also be good to use with this book. There is a pattern in the narrative so students can pick up on it and use the clues as well as their prior knowledge of winter and hibernation to make predictions about what will happen next in the story.
Megan Garlette
Title:Switch on, Switch off by Melvin Berger
Citation: Berger, M. (1989). Switch on, Switch off. New York:Harper Collins Publishers. Reading Level : Grades: K-1 DRA: 28 Guided Reading: L
Suggested Literacy Strategy: The Look Backs as Fix it comprehension strategy could be a valuable tool while reading this book. The book details complex subject matter, and children need to know that they must stop and figure out what is blocking comprehension before continuing. This strategy would force children to make sure the book makes sense, and thus promote maximum learning.
Description: This book begins by discussing the simple act of turning a light switch on or off. After the simple introduction, the book goes into detail about energy, electricity, and circuitry. The book uses child friendly examples to unveil the “magic” behind electricity. The pictures allow children to understand the complex science behind energy. The book also takes children step by step to produce electricity on their own.
Christina Marino Title: I Fall Down Citation: Cobb, V., (2004). I fall down. Harper Collins Publishers. Reading Level: 2.9; DRA Level: 7-8; Guided Reading Level: E Description: This book provides young readers with simple experiments they can perform around the house in order to learn more about gravity and how it relates to weight. The book explains that everything falls down due to gravity, that gravity pulls everything down at the same speed, and that weight is a measure of how hard objects fall down. Some of the experiments include throwing small objects up in the air and watching them fall down, dropping objects and trying to see it if they hit the floor at the same time, and using rubber bands to see which objects are heavier than others (the more the rubber band stretches, the heavier that object is). This is an excellent book for young children to read and discover interesting facts about the force of gravity. Literacy Strategy: Since this book focuses on scientific terms and concepts, using the main idea strategy would be a good literacy strategy to use. By the end of this book, students will be able to conclude that the main idea of the book is that gravity is a force that pulls everything down on earth, which is why everything falls down instead of up.
Margaret Molloy Weird Friends: Unlikely Allies in the Animal Kingdom
By Jose Aruego Citation: Aruego, J. (2002). Weird Friends: Unlikely Allies in the Animal Kingdom. San Diego: Harcourt Inc. Suggested Grade Level: 2-3 Summary: This science picture book is all about the relationship between different animals in the world. The book tells about how these different animals help each other, either by cleaning and providing food, providing shelter or warning an animal of danger. Suggested Literacy Strategy: The best strategy for this would be main idea. There are many different animal relationships in the book so the best way would be to assign the students one or two or to split up the different animals within the students and have them find the main idea of certain pages.
Debra Szubrowski Title: Simple Weather Experiments With Everyday Materials. Citation: Mandell, Muriel (1990) Simple Weather Experiments With Everyday Materials . New York: Sterling Publishing Co.
Description: This book helps children answer questions they may have about weather and climate by giving them experiments and simple demonstrations they can do on their own. For instance, one question reads “What causes thunder to make noise?” Children blow up a balloon, tie it with string and then pop it by putting one hand on the top and the other on the bottom. This makes a small clap of thunder. After the experiment, the book explains that this made a loud sound because it caused a small amount of air to move fast. The book includes dozens of questions and experiments. Suggested Comprehension Strategy: This book would be good for the "look back as fix it" strategy because children will probably make mistakes when working on the experiments and need to look back at the directions. Reading Level: DRA: 44 Guided reading: T
Cynthia Antunes Title: Neptune’s Nursery by Kim Michelle Toft and Allan Sheather Citation: Sheather, Allan, Toft, Kim M. (2000). Neptune’s Nursery. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge Publishing. Reading Level: DRA: 30 Guided Reading: N Grade Level Equivalent: 2 Description: This science picture book is interesting and engaging for students. This book uses poetic verses to describe certain animals and creatures that live in the ocean. It is narrated by an unknown sea creature. Throughout the book the narrator gives clues about what kind of creature they are. As children read the book they may start to predict or guess as to what type of animal the narrator is. The illustrations are very colorful and give students a look into the ocean. There are lots of pictures of sea creatures and different types of life form. In addition, at the end of the book there is additional information about each of the animals described in the book, as well as a glossary. Suggested Comprehension Strategy: This book is perfect for teaching students about predicting and/or inferring. Students must use the text clues throughout the book to try and predict what the kind of animal the narrator is. At the end of the book, the identity of the narrator is revealed and students can check their predictions. Students will get practice with finding clues and using those clues and things they already know to come up with a prediction.
Jasmine Martin
Title: Solid, Liquid, or Gas? Citation: Hewitt, S. (1997). Solid, Liquid, or Gas. Danbury, CT: Children's Press Reading Level: DRA: 38, Guided Reading: P Description: This book introduces students to solids, liquids, and gases; it also gives students examples of each form using things that they may be familial with and see everyday. For example, solid: bricks, cotton ball, boxes; liquid: honey, water; gas: helium (balloons), exhaust (cars). The book also talks about different ways in which the forms change from one to the other i.e. melting, dissolving. Suggested Comprehension Strategy: A good strategy to use for this book is Main Idea. The students can read the book and pick out sub ideas. They can then use these sub ideas to try and determine what the overall idea of the book is.
References Moss, B & Lapp, D. (2010). Teaching New Literacies in Grades K-3: Resources for 21st century classrooms. New York: ...................Guildford. 174-182.
Moss, B & Lapp, D. (2010). Teaching New Literacies in Grades 4-6: Resources for 21st century classrooms. New York: ...................Guildford. 199-207.
We hope to expand everyone's knowledge on science texts. Enjoy!
Jen Levine, Michelle Bonnetti, Debra Szubrowski
Main Characteristics of an Experiment
Why is reading experiments important?
What skills and strategies are needed?
Teaching Tips
Uses in Classroom
Examples
The Everything Kids' Science Experiments Book by Tom Robinson
365 Simple Science Experiments With Everyday Materials by E. Richard Churchill, Louis V. Loeschnig, and Muriel Mandell
The Magic School Bus and the Science Fair Expedition by Joanna Cole
Link to Graphic Organizer
Reaction Time Data Sheet
Plant Growth
Draw What You See
Explore the Outdoors
Student Responses (This is where you will post your book summary)
Kaitlin Farrell
Citation: Tocci, S. (2001). Experiments with Solids, Liquids, and Gases. Toronto, ON:
Children’s Press.
Reading Level: 2-5
Suggested Literacy Strategy: Synthesizing; There are many scientific ideas presented in this book and students would need to learn how to synthesize the information in order to perform the experiments and interpret the results accurately.
Description: This book discusses the characteristics of solids, liquids, and gases by comparing and contrasting them. The book is separated into three main sections (“What is a Solid?”, “What is a Liquid?”, and “What is a Gas?”) and each section ends with an experiment for the reader to try. The experiments are simple and can be done at home, yet clearly enforce and prove the scientific concepts covered in the book. Another positive quality is that children can really relate to the pictures and examples that are used to describe the three states of matter. The text structure is typical of nonfiction books and includes things like a table of contents, chapters, glossary, index, and other websites to explore.
Jeanna Calia
Book: The Icky Bug Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta
Citation: Pallotta, J. (1993). The Icky Bug Alphabet Book. Waltertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
Description: This science book is an alphabet book which explains 26 different kinds of bugs and insects. For each letter, the book states the bug, what it does, its features, and a fun fact. The illustrations in the book are very vibrant and bold. The images of the bugs are also very large. This would also be a great book to learn about the alphabet.
Reading Level: DRA: 38 Guided Reading: P Grade Level Equivalent: 4.9
Suggested Literacy Strategy: Students can be introduced to the topic of theme and how the underlying message of the book is to teach about the different kinds of bugs and what they are categorized as. This book integrates both science and the alphabet when you read. Students can be assigned a letter of the alphabet and not only think of the bug which is illustrated in the book under that letter, but compile other bugs/insects which begin with the letter they are assigned.
Randee Myers
Book: I See a Kookaburra!: Discovering Animal Habitats Around the World by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page
Citation: Jenkins, S., & Page, R. (2005). I See a Kookaburra!: Discovering Animal Habitats Around the World. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Reading Level: DRA: 18-20; Guided Reading: J
Description: “Scorching deserts and steamy rain forests, muddy ponds and salty oceans—animals are found almost every place on earth.” In this science picture book, students are able to catch a glimpse into animal habitats from the tide pools located on the southern coast of England to the rain forest in the Amazon River basin of South America. With many colorful and exciting pictures displaying information, students can learn a lot about different animals from all around the world.
Suggested Literacy Strategy: The most useful reading strategy for this type of text would be finding the main idea. The main idea refers to the most important idea found in expository text. This strategy will help students decide what the author’s main purpose is for writing the book. While reading an expository text, such as a science picture book, students will learn to constantly make predictions as to what the author thinks is most important in the text.
Jen Levine
Book: The Magic School Bus: In the Time of the Dinosaurs by Joanna Cole
Citation: Cole, Joanna. (1994). The Magic School Bus: In the Time of the Dinosaurs. New York, NY: Scholastic, INC.
Description: The Magic School Bus: In the Time of the Dinosaurs is about Ms. Frizzle and her class traveling back to the dinosaur age for a dinosaur dig in their magic school bus. The students learn about fossils, dinosaur bones/bodies, and about the types of plants that were around during this time.
Reading Level: Guided Reading: P; DRA: 34-38; Ages 4-8
Suggested Literacy Strategy: After reading The Magic School Bus: In the Time of the Dinosaurs, students can use the summarizing comprehension strategy. The book contains a lot of facts about dinosaurs, so students can summarize all the facts that they have learned in each part of this book.
Michelle Bonnetti
Book: The Magic School Bus: In the Arctic
Citation: Cole, Joanna. (1998). The Magic School Bus: In the Arctic. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Description: This book is about Ms. Frizzle's class trying to figure out where the heat goes when it's cold. Ms. Frizzle decides to take them to the arctic to figure it out, but on the way they drove the bus into freezing cold water. The bus would no longer drive, and they had to figure out how to warm the bus up and get back home. On the way they run into a polar bear and shrink to use his fur as warmh. They also discover blubbler and learn how it keeps walrus' warm.
Reading Level: P
Suggested Literacy Strategy: I would use the main idea strategy for this book. The main idea is how to stay warm, but children might not pick up on that immediately. Students who read this book may thing the Arctic is the main idea. The book has a lot of good information about staying warm so students could locate the main idea of staying warm and then discuss ways Ms. Frizzles' class stayed warm.
Kayleigh Shaw
Book: The Tiny Seed
Citation: Carle, Eric. (1987). The Tiny Seed. Natick, MA: Picture Book Studio.
Reading Level: DRA- 28; Guided Reading- L; Grade Level- 3.2
Description: Eric Carle presents accurate information about seeds, how they travel/spread, and the development of seeds into plants. He also includes great illustrations to go along with the text that will help students understand what he is teaching them. This story of the tiny seed goes through the possibilities of wind and animals carrying seeds to various places and what happens regarding seeds growing into plants in each season.
Suggested Literacy Strategy: Main Idea would be a great strategy for this book. While it is an informational text, it is presented in the form of a narrative, which will help students better understand and use the strategy. Students will gain the most of out this book if they understand what the most important thing(s) Carle wants them to gain from their reading.
Liz Kalajian
Book: Stars! Stars! Stars!
Citation: Barner, B. (2002). Stars! Stars! Stars! San Francisco: Chronicle Books.
Description: Using simple rhyming text and colorful illustrations, this book introduces aspects of the universe and the planets to its readers. At the end of the book, there are several definitions in basic terms to define several characteristics of the planets as well as components of the universe.
Reading Level: DRA: 18-20, Guided Reading: J, Grade Level: 1-3
Suggested Literacy Strategy: Even though it is presented in a fun and creative way, this science picture book conveys several facts about stars, astronomy, and the planets. As a result, an effective literacy strategy for the readers to use would be summarizing so that they can pick out and identify the key points that they should retain and highlight from reading this book.
Casey Caruso
Book: The Magic School Bus: Inside a Hurricane by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen
APA Citation: Cole, J., & Degen, B. (1997). The Magic School Bus: Inside a Hurricane. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc.
Reading Level: DRA= 18-20, Guided Reading= P
Suggested Literacy Strategies: This book would be a good book to teach summarizing. After reading the book, the children can summarize all the new facts they learned about hurricanes!
Description: The Magic School Bus is a series of science children books that kids love! In this particular book, Ms. Frizzle and her class get lifted out of their classroom into the sky in a hot air balloon. While in the sky, Ms. Frizzle and her class get stuck in the middle of a hurricane. While inside the hurricane, Ms. Frizzle teaches her class all about them. When the hurricane is over, the class returns to their classroom as if nothing ever happened.
Lauren Masco
Book: What Makes Day and Night
Citation: Branley, F.M. (1961). What makes day and night. New York, NY: Thomas Y. Crowell.
Reading Level: DRA: 30-34 Guiding Reading: N Grade Level: 3.5
Description: This book explains why day and night occur. It discusses how the earth is round constantly moving, and because of that the sun hits it in different places at different times of the day. It utilizes diagrams and an experiment to teach students why the sun hits different parts of the earth at different times of the day.
Suggested Literacy Strategy: This book would be appropriate for using the summarizing strategy. It presents a lot of information about why night and day occur, and it would be good practice for the students to pick out the most important facts.
Alli Clare
Title: The Science Book of Machines by Neil Ardley
Citation: Ardley, N. (1992). The Science Book of Machines. San Diego, California: Gulliver Books Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers.
Description: This science book is also a procedural text that introduces simple machines and how they are found all over and then gives twelve machines that students can make using step-by-step instructions and pictures.
Reading Level:
Grade: 4.6
DRA: 40
Guided Reading: Q
Suggested Literacy Strategy: Looks Backs as Fit-It Strategies. Seeing that this is also a procedural text, students will need to know how to look back in the directions and find the solutions to the mistakes they have made when trying to construct their machines.
Gianna Seidler
Book Title: A Seed is Sleepy
Citation: Aston, D.H. (2007). A Seed is Sleepy. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books.
Reading Level: DRA: 38; Guiding Reading: P; Grade: 4.9
Description: Using accurate illustrations and descriptions, this picture book contains many interesting facts about the seeds of both familiar and unusual plants. It also contains a simple description of how various types of seeds begin their lives. Also, short poetic phrases in large print are accompanied by paragraphs in smaller print, which tackle science concepts and expand on the phrases. Therefore, the book can be used with both younger and older students, dependent upon what you focus on: the short phrases or longer paragraphs. Finally, the watercolor illustrations contain both pictures and charts, which depict such concepts as a seed's growth into a plant. Such visuals allow readers to form images in there minds in order to better understand these various scientific concepts.
Suggested Literacy Strategy: Because this expository text contains a variety of concepts and facts, determining the main idea would be an effective literacy strategy to accompany its reading. Having students identify clues and make predictions about what the author may think is most important will allow them to eventually identify the most important idea about the characteristics of seeds and plants, thereby making their reading worthwhile.
Tom Medvecky
Title: Tornado!
Citation: Nicholson, Cynthia Pratt. 2003. Tornado! Kids Can Press.
Reading Level: 4-6
Description: This book is a great combination of text and pictures. The text varies from longer paragraphs to shorter blurbs containing facts and statistics. The pictures add to the text by enhancing it and showing what the author is describing. They visually enhance so that students can create images to the text. It is an easy read for students in grades 4-6 and a great resource if they are doing a project on natural disasters as it provides photos, facts, statistics, evidence and good general information about tornadoes.
Suggested Reading Strategy: The best reading strategy to do for a informational text such as this one is main ideas and sub main ideas. Although the main idea is important for comprehension throughout, the sub main ideas are more imporant. As the book gives more information, it is important for students to understand the main ideas on each page and within each section. Otherwise, they will explain the tiny details and facts rather than the most important ones.
Erin Jackson
Book: Time to Sleep by Denise Fleming
Citation: Fleming, D. (1997). Time to Sleep. New York, NY: Holt.
Reading Level: DRA: 13-14, Guided Reading: H, Grade Level: 2.2
Description: Bear says that winter is coming and it is time to sleep but first he has to tell Snail, who then tells Skunk, who tells Turtle, who tells Woodchuck, who finally tells Ladybug. Each animal notices a sign that winter is coming and they each have a different way of hibernating. In the end, Labybug goes to tell Bear who is already sleeping and the two animals hibernate near each other. This picture book teaches children about winter and hibernation and is also a good bedtime story for young children.
Suggested Literacy Strategy: A good comprehension strategy to teach with this book would be main idea. Students can read this book and use the clues to decide what the main ideas are and what the author’s message is. Predicting would also be good to use with this book. There is a pattern in the narrative so students can pick up on it and use the clues as well as their prior knowledge of winter and hibernation to make predictions about what will happen next in the story.
Megan Garlette
Title: Switch on, Switch off by Melvin Berger
Citation: Berger, M. (1989). Switch on, Switch off. New York:Harper Collins Publishers.Reading Level : Grades: K-1 DRA: 28 Guided Reading: L
Suggested Literacy Strategy: The Look Backs as Fix it comprehension strategy could be a valuable tool while reading this book. The book details complex subject matter, and children need to know that they must stop and figure out what is blocking comprehension before continuing. This strategy would force children to make sure the book makes sense, and thus promote maximum learning.
Description: This book begins by discussing the simple act of turning a light switch on or off. After the simple introduction, the book goes into detail about energy, electricity, and circuitry. The book uses child friendly examples to unveil the “magic” behind electricity. The pictures allow children to understand the complex science behind energy. The book also takes children step by step to produce electricity on their own.
Christina Marino
Title: I Fall Down
Citation: Cobb, V., (2004). I fall down. Harper Collins Publishers.
Reading Level: 2.9; DRA Level: 7-8; Guided Reading Level: E
Description: This book provides young readers with simple experiments they can perform around the house in order to learn more about gravity and how it relates to weight. The book explains that everything falls down due to gravity, that gravity pulls everything down at the same speed, and that weight is a measure of how hard objects fall down. Some of the experiments include throwing small objects up in the air and watching them fall down, dropping objects and trying to see it if they hit the floor at the same time, and using rubber bands to see which objects are heavier than others (the more the rubber band stretches, the heavier that object is). This is an excellent book for young children to read and discover interesting facts about the force of gravity.
Literacy Strategy: Since this book focuses on scientific terms and concepts, using the main idea strategy would be a good literacy strategy to use. By the end of this book, students will be able to conclude that the main idea of the book is that gravity is a force that pulls everything down on earth, which is why everything falls down instead of up.
Margaret Molloy
Weird Friends: Unlikely Allies in the Animal Kingdom
By Jose Aruego
Citation: Aruego, J. (2002). Weird Friends: Unlikely Allies in the Animal Kingdom. San Diego: Harcourt Inc.
Suggested Grade Level: 2-3
Summary: This science picture book is all about the relationship between different animals in the world. The book tells about how these different animals help each other, either by cleaning and providing food, providing shelter or warning an animal of danger.
Suggested Literacy Strategy: The best strategy for this would be main idea. There are many different animal relationships in the book so the best way would be to assign the students one or two or to split up the different animals within the students and have them find the main idea of certain pages.
Debra Szubrowski
Title: Simple Weather Experiments With Everyday Materials.
Citation: Mandell, Muriel (1990) Simple Weather Experiments With Everyday Materials . New York: Sterling Publishing Co.
Description: This book helps children answer questions they may have about weather and climate by giving them experiments and simple demonstrations they can do on their own. For instance, one question reads “What causes thunder to make noise?” Children blow up a balloon, tie it with string and then pop it by putting one hand on the top and the other on the bottom. This makes a small clap of thunder. After the experiment, the book explains that this made a loud sound because it caused a small amount of air to move fast. The book includes dozens of questions and experiments.
Suggested Comprehension Strategy: This book would be good for the "look back as fix it" strategy because children will probably make mistakes when working on the experiments and need to look back at the directions.
Reading Level: DRA: 44 Guided reading: T
Cynthia Antunes
Title: Neptune’s Nursery by Kim Michelle Toft and Allan Sheather
Citation: Sheather, Allan, Toft, Kim M. (2000). Neptune’s Nursery. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge Publishing.
Reading Level: DRA: 30 Guided Reading: N Grade Level Equivalent: 2
Description: This science picture book is interesting and engaging for students. This book uses poetic verses to describe certain animals and creatures that live in the ocean. It is narrated by an unknown sea creature. Throughout the book the narrator gives clues about what kind of creature they are. As children read the book they may start to predict or guess as to what type of animal the narrator is. The illustrations are very colorful and give students a look into the ocean. There are lots of pictures of sea creatures and different types of life form. In addition, at the end of the book there is additional information about each of the animals described in the book, as well as a glossary.
Suggested Comprehension Strategy: This book is perfect for teaching students about predicting and/or inferring. Students must use the text clues throughout the book to try and predict what the kind of animal the narrator is. At the end of the book, the identity of the narrator is revealed and students can check their predictions. Students will get practice with finding clues and using those clues and things they already know to come up with a prediction.
Jasmine Martin
Title: Solid, Liquid, or Gas?
Citation: Hewitt, S. (1997). Solid, Liquid, or Gas. Danbury, CT: Children's Press
Reading Level: DRA: 38, Guided Reading: P
Description: This book introduces students to solids, liquids, and gases; it also gives students examples of each form using things that they may be familial with and see everyday. For example, solid: bricks, cotton ball, boxes; liquid: honey, water; gas: helium (balloons), exhaust (cars). The book also talks about different ways in which the forms change from one to the other i.e. melting, dissolving.
Suggested Comprehension Strategy: A good strategy to use for this book is Main Idea. The students can read the book and pick out sub ideas. They can then use these sub ideas to try and determine what the overall idea of the book is.
Useful Website
References
Moss, B & Lapp, D. (2010). Teaching New Literacies in Grades K-3: Resources for 21st century classrooms. New York:
...................Guildford. 174-182.
Moss, B & Lapp, D. (2010). Teaching New Literacies in Grades 4-6: Resources for 21st century classrooms. New York:
...................Guildford. 199-207.